Tuesday, 20 August 2019

Britain would prefer to remain in the EU

The latest opinion poll confirms what a long line of consecutive polls have been saying for over two years: Britain does NOT want Brexit.

This month, YouGov asked a representative sample of voters to imagine that the final outcome of Brexit was Britain having a new referendum and voting to remain in the EU after all.

A total of 47% considered that outcome to be “acceptable” compared to only 41% who considered it “unacceptable”.

Commented Staffordshire University’s Professor Adrian Low, who has painstakingly analysed all the polls since the EU referendum:

“The latest YouGov poll today is, by my calculations, the 73rd poll in a row confirming that the will of the UK people (those who express a preference) is to have a new referendum and to remain in the EU after all.”

Professor Low added, “The polling shows that Remain now has a 7% majority over Leave, but YouGov only polls in England, Wales and Scotland. So, for the full picture, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar must be added to the counts, because they took part in the EU referendum too.”

Including Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, says Professor Low, only increases the support for the UK to remain in the EU.

“The latest poll by LucidTalk in Northern Ireland (Autumn 2018) had 57% for remaining in the EU, and Gibraltar is strongly pro-Remain, with 96% of their electorate voting to reject Brexit in the referendum,” said Professor Low.

“That just pushes the majority for Remain up a tad more. And don’t forget that in the referendum Leave only attracted a 3.8% majority – that’s half the majority that Remain now enjoys.”

Professor Low added:

“For over two years now, the polls show beyond doubt that the preference is for the UK to remain in the EU.”

The same YouGov poll also confirmed that most voters don’t want a no-deal Brexit, and if we are to leave the EU, they would prefer a deal that enabled the UK to remain in the EU’s Single Market and customs union.